Lydia Besong in Fight Against Deportation From The UK

Lydia Besong is in a fight against deportation. The Cameroonian playwright and her husband, human rights campaigner Bernard Batey, who had been told to leave the UK and return to Cameroon since 2009 are giving the fight to stay in the UK all they got.

Besong a political asylum seeker who fled her native country in fear of her life says she was tortured and raped because of her political activities in Cameroon and is frightened of the consequences if she is forced to return to the UK border agency.

Over the last two years, series of claims had been pushed forward and since been turned down by the UKBA. Subsequent appeals had been refused and an application for leave to remain in the UK appeal to the High Court had also been unsuccessful.

Subsequently, campaigners for Lydia and Bernard have launched an appeal to raise funds for a judicial review of their case. The couple’s numerous supporters are also being urged to write immediately to the Home Secretary and to their local MP asking that Lydia and Bernard be given leave to remain in the UK,

Report reaching us from free movement is that, on Monday the 5th of September at 7.30am about five UK border agency officers went to the home of Lydia Besong and her husband Bernard Batey in Bury, Greater Manchester. They took Bernard from the address – Lydia was not in the house at the time.

Bernard is currently in Colnbrook IRC and Due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Kenya Airways KQ526 at 20:00 hrs Saturday 10th September 2011 from the UK to Nairobi for onward transit to Cameroon.

It seems that the UKBA decided to reject their fresh evidence on August 17th but had not written to Lydia and Bernard or their solicitor to inform them of this decision. The first they knew about the decision was when their legal representative contacted the UKBA after Bernard had been detained on Monday morning.

Supporters of Besong and her husband have initiated a campaign to stop the imminent threat of deportation, and they are calling the attention of everyone that can assist using twitter #lydbernmuststay